Monday, May 26, 2008

En garde(n)!

I'm sure a lot of people were disappointed that today was cloudy and cool, with a fine mist later in the afternoon. Bummer for those Memorial Day barbecues. But I was delighted; it's perfect weather for transplanting seedlings into the vegetable garden.
I did not have access to the garden until the end of March, so I didn't have a chance to till it up or make any plans for it until the very last minute. I threw some peas and chard seeds into the ground as soon as I could, then spent several weeks attempting to remove all the bindweed. The whole garden was covered with it.
That's the peas on the left, with the chard down at the end of the row. The peas are the bush variety, so they don't need tall supports. The frames from street-spam signs work well for this.
On the right, I was happy to discover some established herbs amidst all the weeds. Oregano, lemon balm, sage and chives. There's also one wee thyme plant I almost pulled out by mistake.

Beyond them I planted 10 tomato plants and two tomatillos. Also two acorn squash. I put in five cukes, some Thai peppers and sweet red peppers. And some more thyme.

Dug some more bindweed out. Placed the flagstones down the middle and use some bricks to mark off different areas. Some lettuce seeds are sprouting, and I need to get more seeds in. Beans, for example.
When I was putting up the pyramid trellises for the tomatoes, I got a little surprise. I was pushing the legs into the dirt and some sort of yellow pollen stuff started drifting down. Except it wasn't pollen. I looked closer and discovered that huge batch of baby spiders must have just hatched out from some egg cases at the top of the pyramid. Most of them were hanging on to a bunch of spider web up there, but many had also come tumbling down when I jostled the trellis.
I hope they're good spiders. The only bad ones here are black widows. Oh wait. I just googled "yellow baby spiders" and discovered they are common garden spiders, and are beneficial.
Thrive, wee spiders! Eat all the bad garden bugs!

The irrigation line that I punctured happened to be the line to the handy spigot next to the garden. It's all fixed now, and I laid out some soaker hoses. Next year I'll plan better and put in proper drip lines after I till and before I plant. I saved all the drip tubing from my old house (I take it up in winter), so I should be set. But soakers will be fine for this year.

I know it doesn't look like much, but trust me, I moved mountains today!

10 comments:

  1. WOW! I sooo don't have a green thumb so I really love other people's gardens and dream of one day being able to have my own. I also loved your little spiders. Very Charlotte's Web. :)

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  2. Whoaaa... Kitt, you have been really working a lot! That's a big garden to look after. The spiders? Interesting, I have never seen that type before. They look cute, but I don't want to have them around my house though.

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  3. Cool spiders! I'm a big spider fan myself.

    I was trying to build my raised beds yesterday but apparently my 30-year-old drill isn't quite up to the job. All that industry thwarted... it was sad. So I cleaned the basement.

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  4. what a delightful little garden and cheers for the herbs....

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  5. Time to read Charlotte's Web again! And believe me, we know about moving mountains at the end of a gardening day. Ouch.

    Now that I have all my files transferred to the laptop, I'll start posting to the gardening blog so you can see our raised bed adventures. "Slow" would be the operative word here. ;)

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  6. Thanks, everybody! It's very satisfying, and I know all the hard work will be more evident later in the summer.

    Blue, don't worry, these spiders prefer to stay in the garden.

    Lisa, a clean basement is good, too!

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  7. Wow, you have been busy!
    The harves will be worth the effort...your chives are so pretty with so many flowers on them.. lemon balm is one of my favourite herbs.. I transplant little pieces throughout the garden..you can make tea from the leaves.
    First the bees, now spiders..they are cute and reminded me of charlottes web also!
    Love your mum's little trick..you are now even, must be time to get one up again LOL :)

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  8. ohmygod. all those baby spiders! if they came drifting down towards me while installing a trellis i would be FREAKING. OUT. holy...i'm glad they are good for your garden, though.

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  9. "Yellow Baby Spiders" is, of course, a great band name! I'm looking forward to your gardening adventures.

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